Earlier this week, The Soros-backed Janet Protasiewicz defeated Republican Dan Kelly in the highly contested Wisconsin Supreme Court race, giving the Democratic Party control of the court for the first time in 15 years. Wisconsin may be a swing state, but the results weren’t even close. Protasiewicz won with over 55% of the votes compared to Kelly’s 44%.
While this race was under the radar for many, outside groups spent a record-breaking $45 million on the race, making it the most expensive state judicial contest in American history,
As reported earlier by PJM’s Rick Moran, the significant turnout of liberal women voters played a vital role in the Wisconsin Supreme Court election’s outcome. The driving factor behind their participation was the fear of losing the right to kill unborn babies. However, it’s crucial to note that the final outcome of the election was not solely determined by the number of voters supporting or opposing abortion. Instead, it was the level of enthusiasm and fervor demonstrated by the pro-abortion advocates that ultimately influenced the election’s result.
When speaking about the race during an appearance on Fox News, RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel acknowledged the role that abortion played in the race and said that Republicans have a “messaging issue,” on abortion in the aftermath of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case last year, which overturned Roe v. Wade.
“When you’re losing by 10 points there is a messaging issue. And abortion is still an issue. And we can’t allow the Democrats to define Republicans and put millions of dollars up in lies and have it go unanswered, because the lies become the truth if they go unanswered.”
“We have to put the Democrats on the defense on this issue, talk about the fact that they support gender selection abortions, and due date abortions,” McDaniel continued. “It was an issue in 2022. The RNC raised the flag. I’m a suburban woman. I know this is an issue. I hear it with my friends, with my young daughter.”
RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel on liberal Supreme Court victory in Wisconsin:
"There is a messaging issue, and abortion is still an issue…I'm a suburban woman. I know this is an issue." pic.twitter.com/CC28kiGeWS
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) April 5, 2023
There were many voices on the right that took issue with McDaniel’s statement on social media. Many argued that she was essentially insisting that pro-life messaging hurt the Republican Party. Regardless of whether you supported her in her RNC chair election, that’s not what she said at all.
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According to Heritage Action Executive Director Jessica Anderson, one of the reasons why there was no red wave during the 2022 midterms is that Republicans failed to “adequately combat the Left’s dishonest messaging on abortion.” But that doesn’t mean abortion is a losing issue for the GOP. Far from it. We’ve seen pro-life candidates win across the nation, even when they’ve gotten pro-life legislation passed and signed into law. In November, Gov. Brian Kemp (R-Ga.) was reelected after signing an abortion heartbeat bill in 2019. Gov. Kim Reynolds (R-Iowa) was reelected after signing a six-week gestational abortion ban. And Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) won reelection by 20 points after having signed a 15-week abortion ban into law back in April.
Numerous polls have consistently revealed that Americans are generally in favor of legalized abortion but also support limitations on it. According to Gallup, while 60% of Americans support abortion in the first-trimester support drops by roughly half each successive trimester, which means that a gestational limit of 12 to 15 weeks is actually mainstream, and Democrats who support abortion until birth are way out in the fringe.
“GOP pro-life candidates win in competitive races if they define their opponents as abortion extremists who support abortion on demand with NO limits, and contrast that with a clearly defined pro-life position centered around consensus such as pain-capable or heartbeat limits,” Marjorie Dannenfelser, the president of SBA Pro-Life America, observed last year.
